Rise and Shine! Entering God’s Country, Family Welcomes and Grandson Picture Overload

I opened my peepers just after 5:30 and felt Bill move at the same time. There are mixed feelings today but mostly excitement about returning to our homeland. We are so close and we become anxious to get the last stretch under our wheels and in our ‘dust’. We aren’t tense while in the United States but there is still a huge relief when we say s’long to the Border Crossing Guard.

The sky at the park, at 7 am

Down the highway, it was worthwhile watching it

We had our morning drinks after taking turns in the bathroom for a sink bath. I was pulling the slides in by 6:40 and pulling out just before 7. Rob walked over for one final ‘safe travels!’ and we were On Our Way. The sky was mostly cloudy but to the east there was a hint of a pretty rising of the sun. We caught I-75 and grit our teeth as we endured the rough roads for at least 20 miles.

And it got prettier

One of favourite pictures today
(one with no grandsons involved, I mean)

Rest Area, not so full here

I witnessed one of the most beautiful sunrises since leaving the southern states. Just as we crossed the Veteran’s Glass City Skyway in Toledo, the sun put on a gorgeous performance for me, reflecting on the water of the Maumee River. This bridge is very interesting, spanning to a 400’ height. 

It is a very impressive bridge

and sometimes, timing is everything

The interstate finally smoothed out before we took Exit 20 and hopped on I-275. Our destination first today was Bluewater Shipping in Port Huron, MI to pick up Bill’s package.

Like a kid in a candy store...........

 It was a good drive and eventually the sun broke through the clouds and the clouds took offense and disappeared completely. From I-275 we took exit 17 on to I-94E and it really feels like the home reach now. At 9 we stopped at a Rest Area for a leg stretch and piddle and got back on the road for 20 minutes more. Exit 274A brought us to Lapeer Rd and Bluewater shipping. Bill was quite looking forward to getting this plane, there was quite the story behind it.

and we transported it here as we crossed the border
"anything over $800?"  Nope!

The big surprise was that his ‘one’ package (according to FedEx) was actually 6 big boxes. Not heavy, just bulky. LOL We opened one slide and put them in the living room and drove to the border. There were 4 vehicles in front of us and within 5 minutes, we were on the good side. What a beautiful day! It is 53F/12C. I love reading the familiar signs on the 402 and I LOVE seeing NO snow! Time to relax and regroup.

4th in line at the border crossing

It was 11:15 when we took our Exit 98 and pulled into Can-Am RV. This wasn’t looking good as the lot was overflowing with trailers. Not all staff was in on a Saturday but we got warm greetings from those who were. Kirk, one of the owners, has offered to let us stay on their farm, just down the highway. This is a very kind offer and one that I will appreciate a lot. Staying on a peaceful country setting as opposed to a busy parking lot? Easy choice and I thank Kirk and Kate very much for their hospitality.

This is the back lane to their property
too soft for any entry right now so we came in the front drive

Here we are nestled up to the west of the barn/shed

Bill HAD to open 'to make sure everything arrived safely'
This is one half of half of the wing - get that?
The wing span is 15', this is only about 3 3/4'

After a quick lunch of warmed up leftover stew and rice, Bill and I had a visit from my son, Patrick and grandson, Nathan. 

Two of my favourite guys

Nate and Grandma
"The sun is in my eyes!"

Okay, Nate, I have something for you then

 I love his enthusiasm to come and see us as soon as possible. I’m so happy to have arrived on a weekend when they are available. We had a nice two-hour visit, oh and Molly their Golden Doodle too. Nate is a very intelligent young man and enjoyed the interesting squish ball that I found for him. We sat outside the whole time, enjoying the beauty of this sunny day. When they said goodbye, I checked the temperature and it was 67F/20C.

Molly just loved chasing after her ball
Such a sweet dog, she greeted Clemson and left him alone

Patrick tries to figure out the metal link puzzle
It's a guy thing

Clemson thanking Patrick for picking him up

Clemson and I walked out around the yard and down the back lane before coming inside. I wanted to crochet an addition on my project from a while ago but it wasn’t coming together as I’d hoped. I decided to leave well enough alone and instead start supper early. We were both hungry and had grilled cheese sandwiches. The onions and Vlasik dill pickles in mine added an additional kapow!

Quick and easy supper

We had made prior plans with Bill’s youngest daughter, Jess and her fiancé, Matt for them to bring that new little grandson, Easton for our first ‘meet and greet’. They arrived around 5:30 and it was love at first sight. This little tiny boy stole our hearts. Somehow, in pictures, size is never easy to depict. Bill was very proud to hold Easton and tell him who all he was named after. I snapped a picture or two (or 8) of the two of them.

Grandpa meets Grandson Easton

Easton thinks that was pretty cool too

Then it was my turn, after Easton had his bottle. He fussed a bit, I seem to bring out the best in babies, but then settled down and I didn’t want to give him up. This is the priceless age, one of them. There are so many. After more pictures, a selfie included, they left around 7:45. We’ll see him again in a week so that will be nice. We had a bowl of Lime Jell-o fluff (I don’t know what to call it!) and it went down well with a taste of Rum Chiata. I think it might be an early night.

Three generations

 This has been a wonderful day and I’m very grateful to be home again. I chatted with Rob and Pat, via text so I know they arrived home safely around 2:30 so we can breathe easily about that. We missed them on the return trip and they said the same thing. 😊 I also chatted with Kim on text, her checking in to make sure we were settled in. Such good friends we have and we are thankful for every single one. I hope your day was half as good as ours!

Bill, Clemson and I with the new family

Thank you for your visit. Hello Ontario!

Last Leg, Early Start, Destination Ontari-ario

On Friday, Mar. 31^st we were up by 6:30 and it was nice and cozy in the Suite. The temperature overnight got down to 37F and all we had on was our little Blue Flame propane heater. Wonderful! No flannel sheets yet either and we were toasty all night long.

First priority of the day was to try and reach my little sister, Wendy, to wish her a Happy Birthday. She’s a busy gal back in Owen Sound so we were unable to catch her on FB messenger or on her cell. At least she’ll know we were thinking of her from the message I left. 

My sister, Wendy and me from my teenage years

Wendy, all grown up

Also, a Happy Birthday to my dear friend from school, Rufus, who lives in Hinton, Alberta.

My friend Ruth, really knows how to party

We called ourselves the 3 Musketeers back in the day
Happy Birthday, Ruth!

We had a tea this morning and were on the road by 8 o’clock. The sky is overcast yet no precipitation so far. We exited onto Hwy#21 (Corunna Rd) then onto I-75S to connect with I-69N. The pavement was terrible again only around Flint. Soon we were away from the city and on a smoother highway.

No rain at least

When we pulled off to fuel up at a BP I noticed the road crew patching holes in the asphalt. One truck goes through with 2 guys with shovels and fill the holes, then a large dump truck follows and drives its 2 wheels over the patches, then a pickup truck does the same thing. I’m sure these guys are taking their lives in their hands with the crazy drivers on these highways.

The shovellers

This is the last truck

Like George from Our Awesome Travels and other rv’ers, we like the Flying J for their truck lanes to fill up so it is also nice, when you need another gas station, to find that BP also offers these large lanes. With big units, the last thing you want to worry about when you need a fuel top up is whether you can get in and out.

The bridge to Canada in the fog

Daddy's 'black' fog :)

We’ve had a good drive with little to no rain to speak of. We reached Port Huron and the fog was pretty ‘black’ as my dad used to say.  He was a character and when we disputed that it was white, he said ‘you can’t see through it so it has to be black!’, just to get us kids going.

Short line at the border

The line up at the border crossing was short and fast. In line at 9:30 and thanking the young guard at 9:40 as he sent us on our way. Yay! We were as honest with him as the fog is white (heh heh) and are sailing on our way to Arkona. It is 3C and still foggy off in the distance and HWY-402 is smooth as a baby’s bottom. Home.

Familiar road from Arkona

Curvy road to Rock Glen Park
I have a feeling we're not in the United States anymore

Yah well, how can things that go so right suddenly turn around? Here we are at Rock Glen RV Resort with reservations for a week. Thank you, Gerry, for helping us out with that. Jane and Rob are ‘iffy’ whether we’ll get into an Executive Site but ‘try and if it is too soft, we’ll park you on the road’. Fine.

No longer Fine

The lanes are so narrow in this park for big rv’s and then you have to turn your wheels sharp to back in…………. well, our rear truck wheels sunk and here we sit on the lane, neither in a spot or out.

 We called our affiliated Roadside Assistance and with the help of Clarke’s Towing we were out of that sinkhole. Quite a friendly guy too and we’ve never had to use their assistance before so a bonus in the otherwise topsy turvy morning. 

This debacle only added to Bell screwing up our re-connection to Bill’s Samsung, the employee inputting May 31 instead of March 31. Oh my, it is hard to get good help these days!

We left our mark at the park

We took a break and had a discussion about what to do. Sitting in the lane, we couldn’t reach hydro hookup and didn’t want to mess around looking for a spot that would reach. Discouraged, tired, hungry, cool and damp we called our favourite people at CanAm.

A nice chat with the Clarke's driver

"Have you got a spot for us for a couple of days?" Peggy says "yes" so; the decision was easy. Bill backed the Suite up to the main road and swung it around towards the exit. After advising Jane that we weren't staying and getting our $10 gate pass returned, we left Rock Glen at 12:40. We’ll never see those 2 hours again, I thought as we hi-tailed it to Lambeth. We have offered to help them at their Driving Seminar on Sunday so it makes total sense to park there in the back. With hydro. Kudos to CanAm and kudos to Peggy!

Arriving at our dealers’ was like a homecoming and it felt really nice to be welcomed so warmly. Peggy set us up, as promised, and soon we were settled inside our Suite up close to the building with hydro. Sweet! It is cold and our bodies really need to make an adjustment but we have everything with us that we need to keep warm.

Bill made up a sandwich and I found something to tide me over until dinner time. It will be a soup and cracker night, me thinks! I’m making myself a tea as we speak so that will warm me up for the time being. We will be staying here at CanAm for at least a couple of days, maybe more. I appreciate that you are reading today to make sure we got home safely. The sky today is making it obvious that there will be no sunset so I'll post this instead. 

I can say now that I have taken a few of these dirt paths and loved them!

Thank you to all of our friends and family who have followed along with us on this first journey to the southwest. Now, we aren’t just dreaming about it, we made it happen and hope to continue to do so for a long time. It has been a real treat to know that you have been with us. 

All comments are welcome.